


Need a Little Sanity

by ura_nium



Series: Missing in Action [3]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Nightwing (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Dick whump, F/M, Hurt Dick Grayson, Hurt/Comfort, Robin whump, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-09 05:20:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15260292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ura_nium/pseuds/ura_nium
Summary: The team meets Joker for the first time and everything goes wrong.Warning: blood, language, violence in the 1st chap.Robin-centric, but told mostly in other POVs.Set in Season 1





	1. Pick up the Pieces

Wally had a bad feeling about this. A really,  _ **really**_  bad feeling.

"Why aren't you enjoying the show?"

The chalk-white, lanky man in front of them laughed manically at his own statement, lips stretched impossibly wide with a blood-red grin. Beside him, Artemis flinched. The creepy happy circus music was really grating on his nerves. He could tell it was affecting the others too.

"Let them go, Joker." Kaldur stated coolly, his face betraying no emotion. M'gann was hovering behind, slightly perturbed by the hysterical clown. Conner was holding her hand tightly. Robin had gone quiet as soon as they arrived, and now his face almost as pale as the maniac's. Wally stole a worried glance at him.

The villain stopped suddenly, but the laughter seemed to echo in the large, red and white circus tent. The sound buzzed in the air, mingling with the broken sound of circus music playing. Then Wally realised that it was the possessed people who were laughing, tittering away behind the smiling masks that were strapped onto their faces.

Joker clicked his tongue critically, " Fishboy, that is no way to treat your elders! Didn't your momma teach you anything about respect?"

He turned to Artemis and suddenly gave a delighted cackle at her startled expression, "What's the matter, Blondie?" his footsteps tapped in time with the merry rhythm of the music and the ghosts of giggles as he began to walk in a circle around them, his crazed gleaming eyes still fixated on Artemis. Suddenly, there was a flash of white and Artemis yelped, leaning sideways and bumping into Wally. His blood froze; the Joker had lunged forward and back so fast, they didn't even see him.

"You…" he whispered as he continued his path around their tense, nervous group, twirling a lock of Artemis' hair between its fingers. "You, my dear, have such beautiful, beautiful blond hair. So frightfully blond."

Artemis turned ashen and shrunk towards Wally when the Joker gave her a smaller, more sinister grin. Then he turned, and jumped in mock surprise when he saw Robin who, if possible, looked even paler than before.

"Ah! There you are, Boy Blunder. Not hiding behind Batsy's capey today, are we?" Letting loose a high-pitched shriek of delight at that statement, he doubled over, winded with giggles. He had made a complete circle and was now back in the position where he started.

Then, quite suddenly, the Joker straightened, frowning. Everyone except Robin jumped. He looked even more menacing with his lips twisted downwards.

"You poor, poor, children. What has Batsy done to you now? Rubbed off you all with his sad, sad seriousness, has he?" Without warning he strode up towards them again, and halted in front of Kaldur. No one moved, no one breathed. Wally wanted desperately to turn and run, but his feet seemed glued to the ground and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move.

"My my, dear leader," Wally heard M'gann stifle a gasp at the soft click. Joker was grinning again, a gun angled right in front of Kaldur's forehead. Point-blank. Silver eyes stared back with unnerving calm into a pair of beady, glassy ones.

"Why." The laughing people were climbing over the circus ring, the masked acrobats coming down the rope ladder.

"So." The sheer numbers were overwhelming. And they were all giggling away.

"Serious?" the bang was loud enough to make his bones rattle. Wally squeezed his eyes shut, then reopened them.

The Joker was laughing again, the small flag sticking out of the gun trembling as he shook with hysteria. A cacophony of his discordant laughter, the people's muffled giggles and the cheery musical tune reverberated throughout the tent, ricocheting off the stands and walls.

Wally shook himself out of his trance. Kaldur looked dumbstruck, the rest wore similar stunned looks, and Robin had gone all rigid. Then at the corner of his eye, Wally saw his friend's expression turn horrified and his mouth opened into a silent shout—

The next thing they knew, there was a white flash and sharp pain shot through Wally's leg. He crashed to the floor with a strangled yell.

"Kid!" The flag was sticking out of his thigh and it felt like that entire area had been set on fire. He tried not to cry out again.

Faintly, he heard Conner snarl. Artemis was down beside him, gripping his arm tightly. Joker was humming shrilly along to the gypsy melody. His possessed minions had somehow, while they were distracted, surrounded them.

"Well then, children," Joker's voice drifted across the cackles.  _Stop laughing,_  he wanted to shout at them,  _stop laughing, stopstopstop-_

"Enjoy the show!~" Everything moved at once. Kaldur, Conner and Robin. charged. Artemis lugged him to his feet and they pushed through an oncoming throng of laughing clowns.

"Robin! Get back here!" he heard Kaldur yell after the boy. Wally managed to glance around momentarily. Robin had appeared to have ignored the call as he turned and leapt over the bunch of zombies. The laughter intensified, resonating like a thousand bells in the tent.

He heard Kaldur starting to shout over the noise at Conner to follow Robin but his orders were cut off as the crowd engulfed them. The 'performers' each wielded either a sharp craving knife or a spiked club.

Suddenly Wally collapsed onto the ground.

"Wally—" His leg was throbbing and wouldn't hold his weight. With a heave, Artemis managed to get them both to the entrance of the tent, beside the stands. Her face swam into his line of vision. She was tapped his face.

"Wally. Wally, are you still with me?"

He grunted to show that he was still conscious. His ears were ringing. "Get... it... out..."

"The-"

"Yeah, I don't care." he bit back a wince. "Just do it!"

"Ok... on three." He nodded slowly, clenching his eyes tightly.

"1... 2... 3-" it came out. His leg felt like it was bathed in acid for a moment before it finally ebbed a little.

Sighing in slight relief, Wally opened his eyes to a pair of concerned, ash-grey orbs.

"Thank-"

"Artemis! A little help would be very much appreciated!" Came a call from Kaldur. They both looked up to see the team getting smothered by the giggling maniacs. There were just too many and because they were just innocent civilians, the heroes couldn't hurt them.

M'gann and Conner had been cornered into the stands, with Conner protecting M'gann while she attempted gather up the people and take them out with her mind, Kaldur and Artemis were fighting at the foot of the stands, dodging and blocking hits. Robin was taking on Joker single-handedly on the far end of the tent. Through his pain-tinged vision, Wally could see his pale face contorted with fury and defiance.

He tried to stand but his bad leg caved under him. It hurt so badly.

"Sit this one out, Wally. Recover." With that, Artemis darted off into the throng of brightly covered, knife-wielding zombies.

Then he returned his attention to the duelling Clown Prince of Crime and Boy Wonder.

"Ahhahahahahaha!" The Joker positively screamed with laughter as he leaped down the stairs of the spectators' stands, towards the empty ring. Robin was close behind, face pulled into an angry grimace.

Without warning, the madman stopped and swung something, some pole, at their teammate, his best friend. He twisted and fell over the footboard of the stands.

"One little, two little, three little birdies~" Robin was on the ground, either dazed, or unconscious. Wally knew he had to help but his leg had, for some weird, frustrating reason, not completely healed yet, even with his enhanced healing capabilities. The room was beginning to twist. He was helpless.

"Argh!" On the other side, the team was being defeated by the giggling civilians. Their hesitation to injure was costing them.

_**Whump.** _

Robin had just gotten to his feet, only to fall again when Joker hit him again, this time on the shoulder. He staggered forwards and tumbled over the performance ring and into the arena.

"No..." he tried to yell but his voice was stuck in his throat.

Joker burst out in song as he jumped into the ring and and landed above Robin. "Four,"  _ **Smack**_ , "Little,"  _ **Thump**_ , "Five,"  _ **Crack**_ , "Little,"  _ **Thwack**_ , "Six,"  _ **Crack**_ , "Little,"  _ **Smack**_ , "Birdies,"  _ **Crack**_.

"R-Robin!" His hoarse cry drew the attention of M'gann, who was trying to contain the possessed victims. She dropped them, with all intention to go help Robin, but more pounced onto her and she went under. Conner made a sound akin to a wounded bull and began to swat at the zombies

Wally struggled up, leaning heavily against the wall. His head buzzed and black spots blinked in and out of his vision. His canary yellow costume was almost completely soaked with his blood. What was wrong? Why weren't his super-healing abilities kicking in?

A few of the zombies had noticed him and they were coming over, their demonic giggling muffled by the masks. He hopped weakly on one foot and nearly screamed in frustration.

"Blasted leg! Move, dammit!"

He still couldn't run, Robin and the team were getting beaten to a pulp, they were going to lose-

Suddenly, there were three snapping sounds and then a small black arrow appeared on the neck of each of the zombies advancing towards him. They went down like puppets whose strings had been cut. More airy snaps and several of the 'clowns' and 'acrobats' keeled. The crowd around his teammates thinned.

"Are you okay?" He looked up to see the owner of the black arrows. The young man was standing on top of the stands behind him, a crossbow in his hands

"Ro- Red Arrow!"

The red-head nodded. "Yeap."

He shot more of the arrows and soon, the team had fought themselves out of the insane thicket. The colourful, circus people lay on the ground, some still quivering with giggles.

"Red Arrow!" M'gann exclaimed. They all looked worse for wear; Conner's shirt was shredded and there were a few healing slash marks on his arms, Kaldur had been stabbed on the shoulder and was leaking dark, purplish-red blood, Artemis had bruises from the clubs blossoming all over her face and forearms which she used to protect herself and M'gann's cape had been all sliced and torn up and she had a cut on her leg which was bleeding.

Red Arrow checked the pulse of one of the fallen zombies and cast them a quick glance, "Where's-"

"Looking for your birdie?" Came a jeer from the other end of the circus tent. Joker was standing, straight as a pencil, his sinister, bright red grin once again stretched across his face.

He began to swing something, a bloody crowbar, round and round in his hand. Then they looked down and saw-

"Rob!" His best friend lay slumped on the floor at Joker's feet, unmoving. His gut twisted horribly.

Red Arrow stood. The two men stood facing each other, one smiling and one expressionless. The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Then the madman pulled a mock scowl, "C'mon boy, turn that frown upside down! You're at the circus for goodness sake!"

"Let him go." Gritted Wally angrily. He could hear the blood pounding in his eardrums.

"Who? Whatwhenwhere? How?  **Hahahahahaha!** " Joker lifted the crowbar and before they could yell, he brought it down on the kid at his feet. Then again, and again.

"The circus is coming to town, the circus is - urkk!" He keeled over in mid-hum, three black arrows sticking out of his chest.

As the villain went down, Wally rushed over to Robin as fast as he could, hopping and tripping. Artemis and the rest were close behind; Red Arrow and Kaldur sprinted towards Joker, who was cackling and attempting to get up.

His friend, his best friend was lying on the dirt floor, all banged up by the madman, all broken and silent-

"Robin! Rob, speak to me!"

This was messed up. So messed up. All the noise just phased out as he picked up Robin, tried to pick up the pieces-

This was not how it was supposed to be, things were not supposed to go down like this... He could hear Joker, giggling drunkenly as Kaldur and Red Arrow tied him up... Wally wanted nothing more but to smash his face in for what he did to Robin...

"M'gann, where's the ship?"

"She's coming. I'm getting her to call Captain Marvel-" a small sound cut short M'gann. Robin took a rattling breath as he regained consciousness, body jerking in Wally's arms as he coughed wetly.

"Rob? Can you hear me?"

Robin struggled to part his blood-stained lips. When he spoke, he sounded so weak, so small, as if air was leaking out of his lungs along with his warm red blood.

"KF… your…leg… "

"This is not a time for you to be worrying about others, Rob! Oh God—" Wally felt horror seize him as Robin continued to cough, blood spraying out from his mouth and onto his Kid Flash uniform. The warm wetness began seeping through the fabric of his uniform. He was injured, and very, very badly so. They had to get help or –

Robin made a squirming movement, as if he wanted to get out of Wally's arms. He screwed his face up into a painful grimace and gasped weakly, "Don't… understand..."

The boy stiffened, then went limp in Wally's arms.

"Robin!" There was no response. He cursed vehemently.

Conner spoke for the first time. "M'gann, where's the ship?"

"A minute more, she's flying her fastest already-"

"Okay." Wally laid Robin down on the sandy floor. Artemis checked his pulse.

"Wally, his… his pulse really weak." He wanted to scream. This was all wrong, his best friend was dying and there was nothing they could do, nothing...

The blonde's voice lulled him out of his trance, "Should we do CPR? Wally!"

He could still hear Joker's laughter ringing in his head and the circus music was still playing (the said villain was on the floor, all tied up and being interrogated by Red Arrow and Kaldur who were trying to free the civilians from his mind control.).

_Pull yourself together, Wallace._

"No." He said, his thought process still feeling strangely splintered. He indicated at the slightly sunken left side of Robin's torso, "His ribs are broken, we might risk injuring him even further."

"So what do we do now?" The question struck a chord in Wally's brain and he quickly snapped into action.

"Staunch his wounds before he bleeds out." Conner and Artemis nodded and set to work immediately.

_Hang in there, Rob, just hang in there..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's me starting another chaptered fic. This will be 5 chapters long, and it's full written because I've had it posted on ff.net previously.
> 
> Let me know what you think of this fic! It will be great to hear from everyone :D


	2. The Turbulence of Waiting

The plane ride home was horrible. Red Arrow stayed behind to talk to the police and the team had to take Joker with them. They mostly left the maniac in the corner, preferring to huddle around the beds that they had put Wally (who was still bleeding heavily) and Robin on and pretending that they couldn't hear the villain giggling groggily to himself.

As soon as they landed, Robin was rushed away by Martian Manhunter, and Captain Marvel took the Joker. Batman was nowhere to be seen but Black Canary was there, looking extremely grim. She took shaken team to treat their wounds and change. By then, Wally was already rather pale and lethargic from all the blood loss; Conner had to carry him to the infirmary.

About 2 hours later, they found themselves sitting in the main entertainment room, staring blankly at the cartoon flashing across the screen. Kaldur had taken the armchair on the right, M'gann was curled up against Conner on the sofa and Artemis sitting with Wally in the 2-seater.

All of them, except Conner, had a multitude of bruises and injuries. Kaldur's arm was bandaged and put into a sling and Wally's wound had been bound up tightly. After examining his wound, Black Canary told them that the tip of the flag had accidentally hit the artery, resulting in heavy bleeding. She gave him a blood transfusion and hooked him up to another drip which sent a yellowish substance into his veins.

The television blared disgusting cheery music. No one was really listening. In fact, Artemis and Wally had their heads together and were conversing in low voices. This was the first time they had had a conversation without bickering. It was really weird.

Suddenly, Conner's face turned hard and he growled at the pair on the love-seat. "That has nothing to do with her, Wally. It's not her fault."

This earned the clone puzzled looks from Kaldur and M'gann.

"What's not whose fault? Conner, what are you saying?" The leader asked, curious.

Conner lowered his blue eyes to the Martian's amber ones, "Wally blames M'gann for Robin's injuries."

"What?" Kaldur said hurriedly. M'gann uncurled herself and sat up, eyes flitting to Wally.

"Hey, don't put words in my mouth!" Retorted the red-head, sounding outraged. "All I said was that she should've gone to help him instead of just-"

" **Same thing.** "

"It's not, I'm just saying that if she'd gone over,  _ **maybe**_  things won't be so bad now!"

"We were being overrun! And that's easy for  **you**  to say, why didn't you go help him instead then?"

"Because Joker shot me in the leg, remember?"

"Well, then it's equally  **your**  fault-"

" **Stop it! Both of you!** " M'gann cried, shooting to her feet. They fell silent.

"Robin is hurt, and what are you two doing? Fighting! Over a meaningless, little matter!"She gave both of them a very uncharacteristic glare and stormed out of the room, brushing past Red Arrow as she left.

The archer raised an eyebrow and gave an  _I- don't-know-what-happened-here-and-I-don't-want to_   _know_ expression. The tension seemed to ease a little as he strolled over and dumped himself in the vacant seat beside Conner, snorting at the cartoon they were watching.

Finally, Artemis mustered enough courage to ask, "Any news?"

Red Arrow's face did not change, but something flashed across his eyes.

"I've talked to Green Arrow when he came by with Superman to collect evidence. He's still in surgery, up at the Watchtower. Batman is there now, with him."

"And?" inquired Wally sharply.

Red Arrow hesitated, then turned slowly and gave him an apologetic look.

"They don't know, Walls. They don't know."

The atmosphere in the room seemed to grow heavier. Wally glumly sunk back against the seat. Artemis placed a comforting hand on his uninjured thigh. Gradually, conversation fell away in the room and they watched as the TV buzzed and time ticked on, and on, and on-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a filler sort of chapter, we will hopefully see more of Robin in the next few chapters!  
> Please comment and let me know what you thought about this chapter! :D I would love to hear from you~


	3. Keep it Steady, Now

It wasn't until late that night when Batman came sweeping into the TV room. Artemis looked up from her mushy supper of baked beans and potatoes (in courtesy of Flash, who zoomed over to check in on Wally) to see the Dark Knight walk over to Kaldur, who stood up immediately. Red Arrow had rushed off a little while before, saying something about some Brick* guy trashing Star City.

"Report."

"We were dispatched by Captain Marvel to Happy Harbour Central Park to investigate an isolated incident. According to official police reports, about 20 odd people had gone missing over the past week and none of them have been found.

This evening, a sudden surge of activity set off sensors in the area, which is why we were sent to check out the situation in the park. We flew over and were met with Joker in a circus tent, and a group of what appeared to be people under Joker's control. We intercepted them and Red Arrow arrived mid-way. Joker was apprehended and we brought him back to base."

"What happened during the fight?"

Kaldur proceeded to explain, ending with, "We tried to pull away to help Robin, but the numbers overwhelmed us and we could not break free. Wally was down and if Red Arrow had not intervened, we would have probably been defeated. By the time we got to Robin, he was semi-conscious and badly injured."

Batman didn't nod, didn't show any indication that he heard Kaldur. The air seemed to become stale and bitter.

Finally, he spoke, tone cold and severe.

"You were all careless and you let the enemy distract you from your battle strategy. Your lack of focus almost resulted in permanent damage to 2 of your teammates; this is unforgivable. You will all reflect on what exactly went wrong and report to me by to me by tomorrow morning. I am very disappointed in your performance on this mission." He paused, taking a glance at all their miserable faces. Then he spoke again, words less harsh this time around.

"Despite that, you all managed to save the civilians and capture Joker, achieving the objective of the mission. So good... good job."

Artemis didn't know whether she was supposed to be happy because the Bats praised them or be miserable because he only did that to make them feel better.

"How," Wally suddenly said, shattering the silence. His voice shook a little. "How is he? Robin, I mean."

Batman didn't say anything. For a frightful moment, Artemis thought he was going to hit him.

"He'll live."

The two words dropped like stones in her stomach. She grimaced inwardly.

"Can we see him?" This time, it was M'gann. She was at the doorway, having returned after storming away to her room.

"... No. Next week."

"Wait, I don't get it." Cut in Conner. He had stood up from the couch. "If he's fine, how come we can't go see him? He's our teammate, our friend!"

"Conner is right. Batman, just let us visit him. We will not get in the way; we just have to know he's okay." Interjected Kaldur. Still, Batman remained silent.

"Don't you guys understand?" the archer said quietly. Everyone looked at her. "He doesn't want us to see him because obviously, Robin's not ok."

"But he said-"

"He just said Robin'll live. Not that he's fine." Artemis could feel meaning of her words sinking into their heads.

"Let us see him, Batman. Please." M'gann pleaded at last.

No one spoke. Then, Batman stirred and growled in a monotone.

"Fine. Come with me. "

~

The Tower was, surprisingly, empty. They followed Batman past the monitor womb and down a long panelled hallway. Wally's crutches echoed noisily as they walked past closed, unlabelled doors. Artemis felt uncomfortable. This place felt so foreign, so different.

Suddenly, something beeped. Batman stopped and put a hand to his ear. "Batman speaking."

He listened for a while before speaking. "Coordinates received. I'll be there in about 5 minutes."

"What's going on?" Artemis heard herself ask as the man turned.

"League business. Robin is at the room right at the end of this corridor." He gestured towards a closed corridor on the left, cordoned off by a steel door.

"Come." He walked over to the side to digital panel which glowed blue and touched the screen.

"Welcome." Everyone except Batman jumped when a cool female voice came out of the computer.

"Batman. Authorizing access for B02, B03, B04, B05, B07, for room A87."

The machine beeped a couple of times before the mechanical female voice spoke again.

"Access granted. Aqualad, Kid Flash, Conner, Miss. Martian, Artemis, Welcome." The steel door slid open with a slight hiss to reveal another empty corridor, except this time it was white and looked extremely... clean. A single nurse was walking down the side of the corridor, reading something off her black clipboard. They watched as she glanced up and, upon realizing it was just visitors, lowered her eyes back down and disappeared into a room off the side.

Batman stepped into their path, stopping them from entering the corridor. "First things first; rules. Don't touch anything, don't break anything. No misbehaving or disturbing the rest of the other patients. If something happens, or if Robin's condition changes for the worse, call the nurses and doctors and alert me. Kaldur, I expect you to keep your team in order. I'll check back in a few hours."

Without waiting for an answer, Batman skulked back down the way they'd come from, footsteps urgent and his black cape swishing ominously.

For a moment, no one said anything, no one moved. They just stood at the open doorway, staring awkwardly at each other.

"Let's go." Kaldur's voice rang unnaturally loud in the corridor.

As they walked, Artemis noticed that a single large window stood straight ahead, at the end of the hallway, displaying a magnificent view of the Earth. They arrived at the last door, and she found herself looking out of the window, trying to calm herself. She felt fidgety, like there were a million worms wriggling about under her skin. It was the strangest feeling, she didn't know why.

_What's the matter, Blondie?_

A chill ran down her spine as the whisper crept into her head. She could still hear the cackles echoing, echoing.

_Hahahahahaha!_

"Arty?"

Artemis snapped out of her reverie and found herself looking into a pair of emerald eyes.

"You okay? " the boy asked quietly, leaning slightly against the wall beside the window as Kaldur hit few buttons on the electronic panel beside the door. Her high ponytail swished softly as she shook her head.

_Such beautiful, beautiful blond hair—_

"… Yeah. I'm good." She knew that he could tell that she wasn't telling the truth, but he just nodded and let it go.

The two of them started slightly when the white door on the right shot open. Exchanging a knowing look with Wally, she took a deep breath and followed the rest into the room.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *an enemy of GA's, not sure if he's powerful enough to actually trash Star City, but I'm going to pretend he is. I've never read any Green Arrow comics, sorry...
> 
> The next chapter will be up in a few days! Do let me know what you think of this new chapter. :D


	4. Tumble Together

One moment, he was floating about in a pool of blackness, minding his own business, the next, there was annoying beeping noise and his entire body felt like it had been run over by a truck. An impending headache pounded numbly at the base of his skull. There was something like a tube under his nose; it made breathing grossly uncomfortable.

Robin kept his eyes closed, hoping he would sink back into the darkness—

Wally's loud voice came in.

"... Look! The moon! Hey guys, did you know that—"

"The moon has a circumference of 10 921 km—" came a grunt. Conner.

"A mean radius of 1737.10 km—" M'gann piped up.

"And weighs approximately 0.0123 the size of Earth, we know already, Kid Idiot, you've repeated yourself about 10 000 times." Finished Artemis with a small sigh. He couldn't help but smile inwardly at his teammates' tones.

"Well, that was harsh. You could've just said so-"

"They did, Walls. For the last 9 999 times." Robin replied, opening his eyes. His voice was all scratchy and weird-tasting from disuse. Everyone, except Wally turned towards him sharply. The shocked expressions on their faces were hilarious, almost comical.

"Since when? I thought- OH MY GOD, ROBIN." They were all at his bedside in an instant.

He gave a small grin and opened his mouth to speak but his throat constricted and he began to cough. He saw Wally wince horribly at the sound.

"Dude..." Robin tried his hardest to keep a straight face as he hacked but the most horrible feeling was seizing his chest. It felt like someone squeezing the very air out of his lungs and he couldn't breathe. His head throbbed and everything spun. One of the machines hissed and gurgled.

There were sounds of frantic shuffling and scraping, and he felt the bed whirr and vibrate, inclining him to a sitting position. A hand pressed itself on his chest.

"Robin. Robin, open up." Artemis.

The ice chips melted and trickled down his irritated throat as it was spooned into his mouth. He swallowed gratefully and the fog in his mind cleared. His body ached something awful. He blinked and his vision focused just in time to see his friends peering worriedly into his face. The machine hissed in the silence, but at least it wasn't gurgling anymore.

"Dude, don't you ever scare us like that again! Seriously!" Wally sounded furious.

"Why Wally, Is that concern I hear in that wheezy little voice of yours? How disturbing." he teased. This wrung out a grin from everyone, even Wally. The tension eased a little.

His arms and legs were all heavy and his fingers and toes were numb. It felt like something was pressing down on him, holding him down.

_Strange._

"Hey, why can't I—"

"They strapped you to the bed as a precaution. Look, we can remove them for you…" Wally, who was somehow sitting on the bed, got off and Kaldur one-handedly (his other hand was all bandaged and in a sling. Robin made a mental note to ask why afterwards,) lifted the blanket which was pulled all the way up to his chest. He felt his eyes widen slightly at the amount of bandages layered on his torso.

"Yeah, you're pretty... banged up." Commented Artemis a little icily. The short answer cut off space for any other conversation. Robin felt extremely uncomfortable under their unrelenting gazes. He squirmed.

The harsh sound of Velcro filled the room and the straps came off. The pressure on his limbs eased and the blanket was replaced. He shifted carefully, making sure he didn't jar his injuries. It felt good to be released from the bonds.

All of a sudden, Robin became abruptly aware of how quiet his friends have become.

He raised his eyes to meet five pairs of serious silver, brown, blue, green and amber eyes.

Then Wally broke the silence, voice tight-strung and a little agitated-sounding. "Why do you always have to run off like that, Rob?" Robin wasn't sure how to respond, so he just kept mum.

"That was so dumb and completely immature of you. I swear to god, you really act like  ** _such_**  a kid sometimes. "

"Well," he had to defend himself, or at least try, "I…"

"Do not try to make excuses for your actions, Robin," Kaldur interjected, expression severe. "You were really out of line this time."

"Guys, calm down, I was just trying to help—" The team was acting really weird. Their answers were falling upon one another neatly, overlapping—

Conner said, a little rigidly, "Do you have any idea how scared stiff and worried we were? What were you thinking, taking on the Joker on your own like that?"

"..."

Then it clicked and he groaned inwardly. They planned this conversation. Trust the team to hatch a plan to gang up on him while he was being all la-di-da in Anaesthesia Land.

Robin sighed in exasperation. Needles of discomfort prickled in his chest. "I wasn't thinking about anything; I just followed my gut instinct."

"Well, maybe you should  ** _stop_**  following your gut instinct." Mumbled M'gann, her brow slightly furrowed. Robin felt sorry for making them worry but this didn't stop him from defending himself.

"Why should I—"

"Look, Rob, gut instincts don't always work out." Wally's voice went up a decibel. Yeap, definitely agitated. The others looked a little confused, like the conversation wasn't going in the direction which they had predicted it would.

"See where it got you, Rob; they let you up the JLA headquarters, man! And you know the bosses, they're always like,  _No, you all can't go up, because it's strictly for official Leaguers, blahblahblah_  and all it took was for you to get all busted up and  _ **Bam!**_  You're up here in space. Space, dude,  **SPACE!**  Do you even comprehend how absolutely  _ **whelming**_  and how  _ **screwed**_  that is?"

"Woah. Slow down, Twinkle-Toes. I didn't ask to be up here!" Robin replied indignantly.

"If you would just follow your instinct less, maybe this kind of  _ **shit**_  wouldn't have happened! There  _ **is**_ something called strategy and planning, you know. Maybe you'd like to look into that."

He couldn't help but scowl now. Everything hurt, his head was aching, he felt like ripping out the stupid tube shoved down his windpipe and he was pissed at their attacks, "I  _ **do**_  plan, just that I was just a little—"

"Distracted? Confused?" Kaldur finished quietly. Artemis snorted and arched an eyebrow.

"You aren't the only observant one, Robin. You were awfully off your game, we could tell. What  _ **was**_  wrong? Did Joker—"

"It has nothing to do with Joker." He shot back sharply. This conversation was starting to turn personal. It was one thing to tolerate Wally's nonsense and smart comments, but another entirely to talk about his distaste for circuses.

"Sorry, but I'd… I'd rather not go there." He heard himself say a little oddly. Artemis looked taken aback by his curt rebuttal. Robin knew she was just being concerned, and he appreciated that, but this was where he was going to draw the line. He couldn't do it. He couldn't tell them the truth. They'll just have to survive without an explanation for his behaviour. Wally sneaked a concerned peek at his expressionless face.

The silence in the room seemed to echo on for hours. The EKG beeped meekly and the ventilator hissed again(he could recognise the machines now).

"So, um…" Robin shifted against his pillows, trying to find a more comfortable for his throbbing leg, his throbbing shoulder, his throbbing everything. They may have won the fight against Joker, but his body was so  _ **not**_  feeling the aster.

"What happened while I was out?"

"Dude, I'm so glad you finally asked!" Everyone let Wally rattle off for a while about how  _ **he**_ zoomed in, how  _ **he**_  tackled Joker and how  _ **he**_  saved the day. It was great fun, even if the red-head was doing it on purpose. Then Kaldur, as usual, came in with the factually accurate and more realistic explanation.

"Red Arrow scampered just before the Bats came." Informed Wally, the annoying chatterbox. "He said there was some villainy person or something in Star. Either way, he had to bail. He really saved our hides this time, though, we could have all been hurt worse it he wasn't there." At this Wally gave a sheepish grin and tugged up his pants to show Robin the bandage around his thigh.

"Stupid flag nicked an artery. Black Canary made me get an IV of icky procoagulants and blood. And to think I was bloody bleeding all over the place, wondering why it didn't heal. Megs got a scratch on her leg and the zombies shredded Supey's shirt, again." Conner gave a small growl, but they could tell he wasn't really all that mad.

"Arty got a bunch of awesome— I mean, nasty bruises on her, eh, pretty face. Don't worry, beautiful, it shouldn't scar too badly." Artemis balled up her fists and gave him a murderous look that said  _'Give me a thousand reasons why I shouldn't smash your face in'_. Wally didn't seem to notice and just continued on.

"And Kaldur busted his shoulder too, like you, Rob. Busted Buddies! I hope the knife wasn't rusty, Kal. You could catch the cooties."

At this, Artemis gave a laugh while Kaldur raised an eyebrow. He clicked his tongue and attempted to smack Wally with his hand cast. The speedster managed to duck, grinning from ear to ear in his completely obnoxious, endearing manner.

"That isn't even medically correct, Kid idiot. And you're supposed to be the science genius—"

"Scoff all you want, boy. You're just jealous. Anyway, you were the worst off, obviously. Don't see any of us strapped to a bed, do ya'? A concussion, a fractured kneecap, broken arm and 4 broken ribs," Wally flicked at his fingers as he counted down the list. "A dislocated right shoulder, pneumothorax and bruises, dude. Everywhere. You're so  _ **damn**_  clumsy, Boy Blunder."

The raven-haired boy shrugged and immediately regretted it when his bad shoulder feed-backed painfully. He flinched.

This caused instantaneous reactions; Conner made a low noise and Kaldur stood immediately. Wally leaned over anxiously and Artemis' hand was suddenly hovering dangerously close to the call button.

"Wait, calm down. I'm fine." He managed to grit out as his arm pulsed with a red pain, "Just a moment of forgetfulness."

They didn't look convinced. As the pain drained away, he gave a small grimace at the renewed soreness in his shoulder.

"Don't ever, ever pull that kind of stupid stunt on us again." Conner's voice interrupted his thoughts. Robin looked up. The Kryptonian's eyes were ice-blue and his mouth pressed in a short, firm line.

Robin smiled a little tiredly. "I promise, I won't do that again. Never ever." This put a smile back on everyone's faces.

They continued to talk and the next thing he knew, the world was sliding out of focus and the faces of his friends were slanting. A pair of hands suddenly pressed on his torso, supporting him.

"You okay, Robs?" Wally's voice probed his fuzzy ears. Everything was still spinning and a strange ringing accosted his ears. Suddenly it seemed as if the air in the room had run out.

With all the strength that he had left, Robin tried to smirk. "I'm fine, just a little woozy."

"You should've told us you were tired." M'gann said quietly. He pulled himself together and shot her an apologetic look.

"Yeah—"

"Rest, Robin. We'll be right here." Kaldur coaxed, taking a seat on an armchair on the left side of the bed. Artemis sat down and clicked on the television as M'gann and Conner returned to the small sofa by the window.

"Hey, move over…" Wally swung his legs onto the bed, careful not to disturb all the wires and tubes.

"What're you doing?"

"Sitting with you, of course!" Wally crossed his arms behind his neck, eyes glued onto Spongebob, who was romping across the plasma screen. He rolled his eyes and leaned back against the pillows.

Later, long after the show had ended and when everyone was either dozing off or asleep, Robin spoke out softly. "Guys?"

"Mm?" Wally grunted and opened one eye blearily. Kaldur and Artemis were long gone and M'gann's head was lolling on Conner's shoulder.

"Thank you."

"Anytime, Rob." Murmured Wally, a grin curving his features.

"Anytime."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do let me know what you think of this new chapter. :D


	5. Crack in the Armor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first half of this chapter is basically the previous chapter but from M'gann's POV. Don't worry, this story wraps up in this chapter with Batman/Bruce's POV in the end.

The Martian sat quietly beside Conner on the sofa, her eyes never leaving the hospital bed. She felt Conner's hand squeeze hers, and a little warmth crept onto her green cheeks, in spite of herself.

Wally had, in the span of an hour, somewhat recovered from his initial speechlessness at his friend's beaten up state and now was slowly falling back to his usual self, joking about and trying to keep everyone's spirits up. But even as he romped around, chatting up everyone, she could sense his crushing worry and concern for their fallen teammate. The same worry was reflected in the others, and in herself too.

She blocked out the sound of Artemis and Wally bickering (they'd somehow fallen back into that habit of theirs, it was good though. It made everyone less tense), with Kaldur attempting to make peace, and curled up on the sofa, leaning slightly against her boyfriend and reflecting silently.

M'gann could see it in front on her; the blood, the odd angles in which his bones with crooked at, the overpowering amount of fear, worry and anger all contained in their small group on the floor. She remembered the sight of Wally, in an unexpected act of tenderness, holding Robin in his arms and how his green eyes were glazed with shock and disbelief. She thought the red-headed boy was going to cry when Robin gurgled his name, voice all choked and painful and wrong.

It was horrible but she couldn't seem to stop it from replaying in her head.

These feelings had toned down slightly since they arrived at the Headquarters to see Robin, but came back in a rush when they saw the state that their friend was in. M'gann had never seen so many machines and so many bandages in her life, and what frightened her most was that they were all on Robin, the small, kid brother of their little 'family'.

M'gann blinked, breaking her train of thought and running her eyes over the prone figure on the bed again. Tubes spiralled from the (noisy) machines and entered the gaps in the blankets, weaving into the layers of bone-white bandages wrapped around the boy's chest. 2 IV drips had been put into his right arm (the one that wasn't weighed down by a thick, white, plaster cast) one coming from a transparent bag of saline, one from a heavy, dull bag of deep red blood. A bump in the blankets on the left side indicated the position of the boy's leg cast.

The right side of his face where Joker had hit him was slightly bruised and swollen; his usual black domino mask had been left on his face to conceal his identity. Only the tube inserted under his nose marred the image of the otherwise peaceful face of the sleeping boy.

He was so fragile, so still, it was almost freaky. She still hadn't completely wrapped her mind around the idea of Robin not being able to move; he always seemed so spirited, jumping about, chattering about nonsense and laughing and smirking for all he was worth. God, what she would give to see him just laugh, or even smile again.

This was so unnatural and she was so scared.

Out of the blue, she felt a thumb press at the worried crease between her eyebrows. Suddenly, she was looking into Conner's concerned face, his turbulent, clear blue eyes.

"You okay?" he asked quietly, his arm snaking around her waist. His touch was comforting but that wasn't enough to keep her voice from shaking.

"Y-yeah, you know." She took another glance at Robin. His mask looked so contrasting with all the white. "Just a little worried."

"Hey. Hey, boring people!" Conner's head snapped up and M'gann pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind.

The speedster clunked over to the window (he was still on crutches) and poked his finger excitedly at the glass pane. There was a mark on the glass, the same spot where his finger had been pressed during about seven separate times during the last 10 minutes.

"... Look! The moon! Hey guys, did you know that-"

"The moon has a circumference of 10 921 kilometres-" Conner grunted.

"A mean radius of 1737.10 kilometres-" she recited, smiling slightly. As messed up as his feelings were, Wally always tried to make them feel better. That was a quality that M'gann decided that she definitely liked about him.

"And weighs approximately 0.0123 the size of Earth, we know already, Kid Idiot, you've repeated yourself about 10 000 times." deadpanned Artemis. The archer gave a small sigh which only served to make Wally chattier.

"Well, that was harsh. You could've just said so-"

"They did, Walls. For the last 9 999 times." A soft, raspy voice came from the bed. Her head whipped around to the source immediately.

"Since when? I thought- OH MY GOD, ROBIN." Robin was up. M'gann felt her heart lift. They were all at his bedside in an instant.

Feelings of relief compounded with anxiousness was coming from the rest of the team as the kid on the bed gave a small grin and opened his mouth to speak. Then everything came crashing when he began to cough, in the most horrible and painful manner.

"Dude..." Wally quickly lowered the side rail and hauled himself onto the bed, pressing a hand on Robin's chest as he was wracked with spasms from the coughs. Artemis stood up from her chair and snatched up the bowl of ice chips off bedside table while Kaldur used the controller to incline the bed. M'gann and Conner just stood at the side-lines, their tense, anxious expressions mirroring those of their other teammates as Artemis scooped some ice to give Robin. Some of the machines were making really disturbing sounds.

"Robin. Robin, open up."

He obeyed. Gradually, his coughing ceased and he relaxed against his pillows, eyes half-shut. He looked so, so tired.

"Dude, don't you ever scare us like that again! Seriously!" Wally chided him furiously. All Robin did was smile.

"Why Wally, Is that concern I hear in that wheezy little voice of yours?" he sniggered, a little hoarsely. They all smiled at his reply. It was  _ **so**_  like Robin to make jokes in the bleakest of situations.

Robin began to fidget uncomfortably. They watched as he tried to sit up.

"Hey, why can't I—"

"They strapped you to the bed as a precaution. Look, we can help you remove them…" Kaldur informed him. Wally got off the bed momentarily and the Atlantean helped him pull down the blanket slightly to reveal thick black straps around his wrists and thighs and layers of bandages on torso. The sight of the amount of wrappings on him saddened all of them. She could feel it.

"Yeah, you're pretty banged up." Muttered Artemis, a little bitterly. The conversation was left hanging in the stagnant air. Robin shifted as they unstrapped him from the bedframe.

He looked up and met all of their eyes. The room was quiet.

Finally, Wally spoke, his feelings like strings that were all knotted and stretched taut. "Why do you always have to run off like that, Robin? That was so dumb and completely immature of you. I swear to god, you really act like _ **such**_  a kid sometimes. "

"Well, I…" M'gann kept her silence, watching her teammates play out their parts. This was the 'Scold Robin without shouting' mission which they had planned for before Robin awoke. She didn't really know what it meant and neither did she like scolding people so she was just going along.

"Do not try to make excuses for your actions, Robin," warned Kaldur, expression stern. "You were really out of line this time."

"Guys, calm down, I was just trying to help—"

By now, M'gann could tell that Robin knew exactly what was going on. He was really good at this kind of stuff, but she had not expected him to catch on so fast in his worn out condition.

Conner was supposed to say something next. She remembered—

"Do you have any idea how scared stiff and worried we were? What were you thinking, taking on the Joker like that?"

He sighed. She could almost see him rolling his eyes. "I wasn't thinking about anything; I just followed my gut instinct."

"Well, maybe you should  _ **stop**_  following your gut instinct." She murmured, feeling a little troubled at how easily Robin dismissed his near-fatal mishap with Joker.

"Why should I—"

"Look, Rob, gut instincts don't always work out." Wally was really getting a little agitated. M'gann felt herself get all worried again; she tried to calm him with her mind but remembered that she wasn't allowed to do that.

"Look where it got you; they let you up the JLA headquarters, man! And you know the bosses, they're always like,  _No, you all can't go up, because it's strictly for official Leaguers, blahblahblah_  and all it took was for you to get all busted up and  _ **Bam!**_  You're up here in space. Space, dude,  **SPACE!**  Do you even comprehend how absolutely  _ **whelming**_ and how  _ **screwed**_  that is?"

"Woah woah. Slow down, Twinkle-Toes. I didn't ask to be up here!" Wally was on a roll and Robin looked extremely offended.

"If you would just follow your instinct less, maybe this kind of  _ **shit**_  wouldn't have happened! There is something called strategy and planning, you know. Maybe you'd like to look into that."

The kid gave a dark scowl. "I  _ **do**_  plan, just that this time I was just a little—"

Kaldur came in, silver eyes intense. "Distracted? Confused?"

"You aren't the only observant one, Robin," Artemis said in a slightly mocking manner, "You were awfully off your game, I could tell. What  _ **was**_  wrong? Did Joker—"

"It has nothing to do with Joker." Robin replied snappily. He looked… stormy.

"Sorry, but I'd… I'd rather not go there." M'gann shifted uncomfortably on her feet. She could sense…. defiance from the boy and a little bit of… fear. She saw his best friend look at him worriedly.

Everyone went quiet. The machines buzzed and beeped on. Something made a sound like air escaping from a balloon.

Finally, Robin said in a slow, unsure manner, as if trying to salvage the remnants of the conversation. "So, um… What happened while I was out?"

"Dude, I'm so glad you finally asked!" Wally launched into a whole play-by-play narration of how he seemingly saved the day. Of course, Kaldur gave a more factual account afterwards and M'gann decided to phase the conversation out. She gazed out of the window. The stars were like little shards of glass in the velvet backdrop of the universe, and for a moment, it was as if everything was forgotten, and only the Moon was pulling the universe together.

Her attention was wrenched back into the present when her name was mentioned.

"… Megs got a scratch on her leg and the zombies shredded Supey's shirt, again." Conner gave a mock growl at Wally's remark. She put her hand in his and couldn't help but smile when he returned the gesture, lacing his fingers with her own.

Wally kept on talking and said something that made Artemis laugh. Robin made an annoyed sound and tried to move his left hand to hit Wally. He never met its target because the speedster, as usual, ducked.

As relieved as she was, M'gann felt a little confused. She could scarcely believe how… normal Robin was acting. He didn't even seem to be disturbed by the fact that he almost died. Instead he was still laughing, still fooling about with Wally, still being Robin. It didn't make any sense.

"That isn't even medically correct, Kid idiot. And you're supposed to be the science genius…" retorted Robin. Wally didn't seem to care.

"Scoff all you want, boy. You're just jealous. Anyway, you were the worst off, obviously. Don't see any of us strapped to a bed, do ya'? A concussion, a fractured kneecap, broken arm and 4 broken ribs," Wally flicked at his fingers as he counted down the list. "A dislocated right shoulder, pneumothorax and bruises, dude. Everywhere. You're so _ **damn**_  clumsy, Boy Blunder."

The boy shrugged and immediately recoiled in pain. M'gann straightened abruptly and Conner growled.

"Wait, calm down. I'm fine. Just a moment of forgetfulness." She relaxed a little but wasn't totally convinced.

"Don't ever, ever pull that kind of stupid stunt on us again." Conner said, quite suddenly. She looked to him.

Robin smiled a little tiredly. "I promise, I won't do that again. Never ever." This put a smile back on everyone's faces.

They were just talking and then suddenly, Robin started sinking down, as if he couldn't sit up properly anymore. Wally reacted in a split-second, holding him up.

"You okay, Robs?" the kid was relying completely on his best friend to hold him up. His features were weary and he blinked sluggishly. M'gann noted worriedly that he had just turned 3 shades paler.

Still, the boy mustered a one-sided smile. "I'm fine, just a little woozy."

"You should've told us you were tired." Robin gave her a quick sheepish smile. This boy really didn't know his limits.

"Yeah—"

"Rest, Robin. We'll be right here." Kaldur said from behind her. Conner's hand was in hers again and he led her to the sofa. Wally and Robin were talking, but about what she didn't know.

M'gann leaned against Conner and felt his arms envelop her. She smiled contentedly as her mind drifted and the waves of sleep claimed her.

~

"Wel—"

"Batman." He barked at the idiotic machine. It was 6 am in the morning, he hadn't slept a wink. The League was still on the mission, but the investigation on the Joker's crime spree in Happy Harbour had come up with some very interesting discoveries and he had to see his protégé.

He did not stop to look at Earth through the window, as he usually would, but instead entered straight into the room. His mind was still clouded with the adrenaline and the disastrous mission and Robin and what ifs.

What he saw stopped him straight in his tracks.

The entire team was asleep in different places and positions. Kaldur was slumped in the reclining armchair, Conner and M'gann were huddled on the loveseat, Artemis was in one of the chairs by the slightly inclined bed, her head hidden in her arms and resting on the white mattress. Wally beside Robin, curled up against the kid in a semi-foetal position and in deep sleep. The sheets of the bed were slightly rumpled and the blanket seemed to have been kicked aside. Robin's eyes were closed and his head was turned slightly towards Wally.

The television was on, cartoons dancing happily across the screen. Just as Batman switched it off, something moved at the corner of his eye.

"Bru- Batman?" Robin murmured groggily, the whites of his mask opening slowly.

He strode over to the youngster's bed immediately. "How are you feeling?"

"Like...crap." sighed Robin, deflating a little. The boy shifted a little to get a glimpse at his mentor, who had taken a seat in a vacant chair, but recoiled in pain immediately.

Batman half-stood, his gloved hands gripping the bedrail tightly.

"What's wrong?"

"The painkillers wore off." The thirteen-year-old intoned wearily.

"Do you need me to call the doctor?"

"I'm fine." Came a short answer.

Batman gave a small sigh at his ward's stubbornness. "May I ask what Wally is doing on the bed?"

The child crinkled his brow, as if trying to remember something. "He said something about me being warm and... small and nice to... um… cuddle with." The Dark Knight tried to scowl but found his lip quirking up slightly instead. Robin made an embarrassed throat-clearing sound and changed the subject.

"So, any clue what Joker was doing in Happy Harbour? I mean, he usually just fools around in Gotham, doesn't he?"

"Firstly," he growled, slipping back into his usual strict mode, " Joker never fools around. He's a criminal and any crime, however small, is always serious, understand?"

Robin nodded at the implied reprimand, a slightly sheepish expression on his face.

Batman continued, "With regards to your first question, Joker came over to Happy Harbour because he was after you."

He watched Robin for any indication that he knew something but all he did was nod.

"Kaldur told me about your performance during the mission." The young vigilante lowered his eyes.

"Frankly, I am disappointed. I'm sure your teammates, if they were awake, would agree with me when I say that you were agitated and distracted and you acted without thinking."

He paused to allow Robin time to take in his critical comment. "Your recklessness and carelessness is unacceptable. You know how this works, Robin. Feelings should never affect the way we fight, the way we think. Having a clouded sense of logic can be very fatal. It almost was in your case."

A heavy fog over the duo. Finally Robin stirred and said in flat small voice.

"I'm sorry. I promise, I'll never make such mistakes again."

"You most definitely will not." replied Batman in as cold a tone as he could manage. "As a punishment, you will be scrubbing the entire hangar floor of the Batcave after you heal, with the usual toothbrush, understood?"

"Wait, Bru—" he made a warning sound in his throat.

"Fine,  _Batman_. Before you make conclusions, can I please say something?" Batman nodded for him to continue.

"I  _knew_ I was being set up by Joker. I mean, how less obvious can it be that that whole circus thing was for me? But the rest of the team, Wally included, had never met the Joker before. They didn't know what they were walking into, didn't know what exactly they were up against. I was trying to—" Batman cut him short with a Bat-glare. A million thoughts were running through Batman's head, analysing, envisioning scenarios—

"How did you know?" He finally growled. Robin grinned.

"Because I'm your protégé. Now tell me my guesses were correct."

Batman paused, and then nodded.

"Joker had a flamethrowers set into the arena ring. I will have to have M'gann change her fighting techniques. Half of his Happy Harbour victims were mostly female Eurasians and found to have long blond hair, ash-gray eyes. The tip of the flag is actually a streamlined canister which is set to release its contents on impact. Superman examined Joker's clothing and found two syringes of liquid kryptonite. He couldn't detect them because of the syringes were lead-lined."

Robin smiled slightly. "Exactly. He had something on everyone else, but nothing on me at all, except for the fact that I didn't like circuses. Speaking of which, I think we should put him and Scarecrow in separate cells. They spend too much time together."

Silence permeated the room. Batman waited. The boy sighed tiredly at his mentor's expectant expression.

"Must I really—"

"Robin."

"Alright, alright! Joker planned to lure Kaldur into the ring and turn on the flamethrowers to trap him. M'gann isn't really much of a physically offensive attacker, so as a last resort, she would've probably tried to break into his mind without thinking of the consequences. Joker has been targeting women that look like Artemis. You know how much he loves having collections; once he knew what she looked like, he would have immediately zombified her and used her against us. The canister in the flag was filled with heparin, I imagine. Wally would have been so weak from blood loss and been a vulnerable target. Joker had  _three_  syringes of Kryptonite; I knocked one out of his hand when he was fighting me. He figured that Conner, with his short temper, would be the first to lunge at him."

"And you made all these guesses while he was trying to provoke you?"

"Not all, I didn't figure out the flag until I looked over from fighting Joker and realised that he was bleeding too much from a simple puncture wound. Joker's flags shoot shallowly and are only meant to cause pain, not severely injure. I only spotted the flamethrowers when I went closer. He had all of us playing into his hands and I had to turn the tables even though I knew I had no chance. "

"I'm not saying they're not good enough or anything, but if it had been M'gann, Kaldur, Artemis, Wally, or even Conner who had faced Joker one on one, things would be way worse, even if Roy had intervened; Joker would've probably would've mentally crippled M'gann, Kaldur would've been tortured and burned to death, he would have had Artemis unknowingly murder her friends and Wally and Conner would have died."

Ringing silence followed Robin's explanation. "How—"

Robin looked like he wanted to shrug, seemed to remember his injured shoulder and thought better of it. "I watched and observed, like you taught me to. It's what  _ **Batman**_  would've done too."

Before he could help himself, he smiled. For one of the first times in his career, Batman was impressed.

"Good job." The kid gave a small, tired grin. Even though Batman often said this to the team, he had never heard it from Batman personally before.

"But now—now you have to sleep. It's late. We'll talk again in the morning."

At first, Batman thought that for once, Robin was going to go down without a fight—

"Do I still have to scrub the hangar?"

"Go to sleep, Robin." He watched as Dick fell into a gentle slumber, chest rising up and down methodically. Batman reached over sleeping Wally and pushed a lock of ebony hair out of his face.

"I'm proud of you." He said in a softer voice.

"Son."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed Batman's (mental) reference to Robin from Robin to Dick (at the end) for a good reason. Because I believe that in his mind, Batman only recognises Robin's effort in crime fighting, Dick is just his intelligent, witty ward. the fact that he finally accepted Robin as Dick and Dick as Robin (and the fact that they are father and son), I think, is a big step. I mean, their relationship is still growing and I bet that every day and every time Dick gets hurt, Batman doubts himself on whether he should've let Dick become Robin in the first place. So yeah, I just felt that this is a plot bunny that's worth explaining:))
> 
> Thank you all who have stuck to this story for all it's five short chapters. Each one of your kudos has brought joy to me:) 
> 
> So, till next time.

**Author's Note:**

> Here's me starting another chaptered fic. This will be 5 chapters long, and it's full written because I've had it posted on ff.net previously.
> 
> Let me know what you think of this fic! It will be great to hear from everyone :D


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